Ondol Motel

In Korea, ondol-style heated floors has become a luxury I've thoroughly enjoyed. The Bronze Age tradition started in North Korea and continues now in restaurants, my apartment and motel rooms like the one I shared with my friend Carol on our Gyeongju trip. Many Koreans still sleep and eat on the floor, so it makes perfect sense that it's heated. (Gas or electric heat replace firewood, rice patty straw and dung for heat fuel now)

Carol and I lucked out, as this room is designed for four people. As you can see, it's pretty low maintenance for the motel owners, as we just spread out our provided bedding on the floor as needed.

Gyeongju Bike Trip

I went south -- to Gyeongju, Korea's ancient seat of government -- in search of adventure, history and cherry blossoms. All was accomplished except the later, which was replaced with an unmistakably saddle-sore bum that only 10 hours on a bike can award. The 4.5-hour bus ride to the coastal city gifted my friends and me with blue skies, sunshine and open space, a welcome antithesis from Seoul's gray, crowded streets. We threaded through Gyeongu's rural neighborhoods and rice fields, enjoying the Easter weekend and company. I didn't realize how much I missed the smell of fresh earth and cow dung until we found some farms, too.

Gyeongju means, "congratulatory district" and is one of the biggest tourism sites in South Korea with several UNESCO heritage sites. In the Silla and Unified Silla periods, the city was the center of court and cultural life through the end of the ninth century. After that time, the area was pounded multiple times by the Mongols and Japanese -- but that's the basic idea of all Korean history.

Below us in front of a famous astronomy tower.

Simon and his Tat

I don't have the pleasure of knowing Simon well, but when I see him, I laugh.

He's a lion in everything but teeth. A largish group of 15 single girls has formed in the southern Seoul district, and Simon fancies himself the leader of the pride. While the estrogen flies thick, Simon manages to counterbalance it all with doing things like farting potently, growing a shaggy beard (mane) and getting huge, impulsive tattoos. His soft side, however, comes through in some of the best original music and poems I've ever heard.

Simon showed us the latest installment on his back and we were all happy to see things like butterflies and caterpillars in his gigantic buffalo tat and hear him moan about the pain in a low, endearing roar.

Raspberry Secrets

Euno leaned forward, eyebrows raised, and asked, "Do you know the Korean story
about these berries?"
I glanced down at the tiny bottle in my
hands and shook my head, ready
for something good. The story goes something
like this:

A long time ago, an old man of 70 went into the woods and ate a
lot of mountain berries. When he emerged, he immediately fathered a baby.

There's a little more to the story that I won't publish, but according
to my coworkers, raspberry products are still consumed for sexual stamina
and fertility. Is that why there are hearts on the bottle? Possibly, but you never
know in Korea -- hearts whimsically show up in the strangest places here.

Phone a Friend

The longer I'm in Korea, the more I realize how true some Asian stereotypes are. They really drink green tea a lot, they really eat seaweed all the time, they really do the cheesy peace sign in pictures and yes -- they really are bad drivers. Chances are you've heard of the Asian driver stereotype, but in case you haven't:













Now that the Asian driving stereotype is assumed, let's move to parking. Let's just say getting parked in is a fact of life here, but Koreans have the wonderful courtesy of posting their phone numbers on their windshields so you can call them to come move their car. I've seen it done; no complaints, no questions, just a simple phone call.